It is easy to fall into the clutches of pessimism, negativity and hopelessness when we are constantly trying to seek pleasure over pain. The world offers a thousand reasons to show the meaninglessness of it all. In spite of it we search for meaning, moving from one high to the next - that high varies based on every individual person’s likes, dislikes and preferences. Some get high by drinking, some by traveling, by work, etc.

Victor Frankl destroys the belief that meaning is to be found in the pursuit and acquisition of various pleasures in his book, ‘Yes to Life, in spite of Everything’ ~

“Let us imagine a man who has been sentenced to death and, a few hours before his execution, has been told he is free to decide on the menu for his last meal. The guard comes into his cell and asks him what he wants to eat, offers him all kinds of delicacies; but the man rejects all his suggestions. He thinks to himself that it is quite irrelevant whether he stuffs good food into the stomach of his organism or not, as in a few hours it will be a corpse. And even the feelings of pleasure that could still be felt in the organism’s cerebral ganglia seem pointless in view of the fact that in two hours they will be destroyed forever. But the whole of life stands in the face of death, and if this man had been right, then our whole lives would also be meaningless, were we only to strive for pleasure and nothing else — preferably the most pleasure and the highest degree of pleasure possible. Pleasure in itself cannot give our existence meaning; thus the lack of pleasure cannot take away meaning from life, which now seems obvious to us.”

The last sentence struck a chord and compelled me to question my own life - that pleasure doesn’t give meaning to our life, nor does a lack of pleasure rob you of the meaning from life. Interesting isn't it?

If you like do reply and let us know what according to you gives meaning to life? Thank you!